The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the State Department added Germany and Denmark to the already long list of European countries on Monday (November 22), recommending that US nationals do not travel because of COVID-these countries have 19 cases.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention raised the travel advice for these two European countries to “Level 4: Very High”, telling Americans that they should avoid traveling there, and the State Department also issued “No Travel” advice for these two countries. .
CDC currently lists about 75 destinations in the world at the fourth level, and many European countries are on the “do not travel” list, including Austria, Bulgaria, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania , Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Switzerland, Ukraine [see full list].
Among the EU countries, only Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, Malta, Poland, Sweden, Finland and Cyprus are still on the growing list of “do not travel”.
According to a Reuters report on Monday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel told Conservative Party leaders that the measures taken to prevent the spread of the coronavirus in Europe’s largest economy are not enough, and stronger action is needed. .
The number of cases in Germany has been soaring, especially among the elderly who had received the first two COVID-19 vaccines and children who were not eligible for vaccination at the beginning of the year.
Earlier this month, the World Health Organization (WHO) stated that as the death toll and new cases surged, European countries must work harder to prevent the further spread of the coronavirus.
Hans Kruger of the World Health Organization warned that the current transmission rate in 53 European countries is a “serious concern”, with new cases approaching record levels, which is exacerbated by the more spreadable Delta variant of the virus. “We must change our strategy from responding to the surge in COVID-19 to preventing them from happening in the first place,” he said.
Germany has decided to restrict most public life to areas full of COVID-19 patients in hospitals.
After announcing some new restrictions last week, neighbouring Austria implemented a comprehensive COVID-19 lockdown on Monday. German Acting Minister of Health Jens Spahn warned on Friday that Germany may follow suit.
The CDC lowered the COVID-19 travel warnings for Israel, Aruba, U.S. Virgin Islands, Curaçao and Guadeloupe from Level 4 to “Level 3: Low” respectively.
(Editing by Georgy Getoff)
